Reinstating a physically abusive teacher

Bechoros(46a)/Gittin(36a)/(Makkos 16b): There was a case of a teacher of children who had physically abused his students [by beating them excessively – Rashi Gittin 36a] [ and some of them had died – Rashi Bechoros 46a] and as a result he had been made to take an oath by Rav Acha not to teacher children anymore [Rashi – Gittin 36a]. However Ravina had reinstated him because there was no other teacher who taught as precisely or as well.

Tzitz Eliezer( 22:59.2): You ask regarding Rashi (Bechoros 46a) who said that the students didn’t die immediately after the teacher beat him, “I don’t understand. Even if the students didn’t die immediately from the teachers blows, how could Ravina reinstate him just because he couldn’t find a better teacher – is it permitted to reinstate a teacher who causes his students to die? Furthermore you note that it doesn’t mention at all that the teacher promised to stop his evil ways?” It appears that this is a very serious question. In answer there are two issues 1) Rashi doesn’t have to be understood that it was typical that the students were hit harder than necessary that they eventually died but rather that it did happen. 2) It is also clear that after the teacher was removed from his position he repented of his evil ways. However he was not able to be reinstated because of the oath that Rav Acha had made until Ravina came and released him from the oath because there was need for this teacher and thus it was considered a mitzva. But this was only because he had already promised to turn over a new leaf.

Pedophiles infiltrate respected institutions to find victims

USA Today

The Penn State allegations may seem unthinkable: revered assistant coach and prominent community activist Jerry Sandusky preying on eight children. But such abuses of trust play out in the USA over and over again.

Respected people who set up charitable or social groups for children, only to be implicated in some form of child sexual abuse, are a frightening reality.

"I call them 'institutions of trust,' " says Portland, Ore., attorney Kelly Clark, who has represented more than 300 sex abuse victims. Some predators are so tacitly trusted "that when something like this happens, the instinctive reaction is, 'That can't happen here. We can't allow the mission to be compromised,' " he says.

Abuse experts say the common denominators in many such crimes are parents willing to allow noted people to have unrestricted access to their kids. Among recent cases:[...]

Bedatz denounces Jewish Taliban ladies

BHOL

The Bedatz condemned the extremists sect as an unacceptable deviation from Judaism. An example was a woman whose daughter's life was in danger. She took her daughter to the hospital for treatment. However the mother insisted that her daughter only be treated by female doctors and nurses. When this was not done she took her daughter from the hospital. Thus she held contrary to the Torah that modesty takes precedence over life.

Early sexual abuse increases heart risks

Reuters

Women who were repeatedly sexually abused as girls have a 62 percent higher risk of heart problems later in life compared with women who were not abused, U.S. researchers said on Sunday.

Fla. Jury Awards $100M in Priest Abuse Case

Kids react to parents eating their Halloween candy

Study Finds Signs of Awareness in 3 ‘Vegetative’ Patients

NYTimes

Three severely brain-injured people thought to be in an irreversible “vegetative” state showed signs of full consciousness when tested with a relatively inexpensive and commonly used method of measuring brain waves, doctors reported Wednesday. Experts said the findings, if replicated, would change standards in treating such patients. 

Scientists have seen meaningful, responsive brain activity in such patients before, using a high-tech magnetic resonance imaging scanner. But the new study, posted online Wednesday by the journal The Lancet, is the first to demonstrate that clear signs of conscious awareness can be detected on an electroencephalogram machine by using an innovative strategy. The EEG is a portable, widely available unit that picks up electrical brain activity through electrodes positioned on a person’s head. Clinics and homes treating people with severe brain injuries are far more likely to have access to an EEG than to an M.R.I. scanner.

Blind man sees by echolocating clicks

CNN

Gilad Shalit and the Rising Price of an Israeli Life

NY Times

They produced data showing that 45 percent of those released in previous prisoner exchanges returned to terrorist activity. One example was a member of Islamic Jihad, Luay Saadi, who was arrested in September 1999 for providing logistical assistance to terrorists in the West Bank. According to Shin Bet, after his release in the January 2004 Tannenbaum deal, Saadi set up a widespread terrorist network that led to the deaths of 30 Israelis and the wounding of 300. He was assassinated by Israel in 2005.

Widespread Sexual Harassment of Students in Grades 7 to 12

New York Times

Nearly half of 7th to 12th graders experienced sexual harassment in the last school year, according to a study scheduled for release on Monday, with 87 percent of those who have been harassed reporting negative effects such as absenteeism, poor sleep and stomachaches.

On its survey of a nationally representative group of 1,965 students, the American Association of University Women, a nonprofit research organization, defined harassment as “unwelcome sexual behavior that takes place in person or electronically.” Over all, girls reported being harassed more than boys — 56 percent compared with 40 percent — though it was evenly divided during middle school. Boys were more likely to be the harassers, according to the study, and children from lower-income families reported more severe effects.

“It’s pervasive, and almost a normal part of the school day,” said Catherine Hill, the director of research at the association and one of the authors of the report.

Over all, 48 percent of students surveyed said they were harassed during the 2010-11 school year. Forty-four percent of students said they were harassed “in person” — being subjected to unwelcome comments or jokes, inappropriate touching or sexual intimidation — and 30 percent reported online harassment, like receiving unwelcome comments, jokes or pictures through texts, e-mail, Facebook and other tools, or having sexual rumors, information or pictures spread about them.

Preaching Virtue of Spanking, Even as Deaths Fuel Debate

New York Times

The pastoral mood in the hills of Tennessee offered a stark contrast to the storm raging around the country over the Pearls’ teachings on child discipline, which advocate systematic use of “the rod” to teach toddlers to submit to authority. The methods, seen as common sense by some grateful parents and as horrific by others, are modeled, Mr. Pearl is fond of saying, on “the same principles the Amish use to train their stubborn mules.”

Debate over the Pearls’ teachings, first seen on Christian Web sites, gained new intensity after the death of a third child, all allegedly at the hands of parents who kept the Pearls’ book, “To Train Up a Child,” in their homes. On Sept. 29, the parents were charged with homicide by abuse.